4 ms·

To be fair, many (non-game dev) Rust projects I have seen/used do provide great user experience precisely because they are laser-focused on performance and have

To be fair, many (non-game dev) Rust projects I have seen/used do provide great user experience precisely because they are laser-focused on performance and have blown existing alternatives out of the water. (Think ripgrep, fzf, etc.) Prototyping is certainly necessary but it shouldn't be at the cost of runtime performance – at least not too much –, because it will typically be very difficult to improve performance after the fact, which web development frameworks, and in particular shitty "web" applications like MS Teams are a testament to. As always, it's about balance.

IshKebab 2y ago
> ripgrep, fzf I think these are great examples of where prototyping and rapid iteration are really not needed at all, and hence Rust shines here. Writing a game is completely different.
- burntsushi 2y ago
  The initial version of ripgrep was absolutely a rapid prototype. I do rapid prototyping all the time. I'm not saying Rust is good for game dev, but the idea that Rust cannot be used for rapid prototyping in any context is a myth.
  - OvermindDL1 2y ago
    Indeed, I personally find Rust to be very nice for rapid prototyping, incremental recompilation is usually a second or two even in my giant projects (mold helps on the linking step but that's less of a rust thing anyway), and I'm very curious how cranelift will change things in the future, it would be nice to hot swap function implementations on the fly at least.
  - areeh 2y ago
    Are there any particular techniques or styles that stand out to you as useful when prototyping in Rust?
    - burntsushi 2y ago
      `clone()` and `unwrap()` and `todo!()` without fear. Just let it loose. For me, prototyping is, IMO, about finding shortcuts to demonstrate something that is unknown to you. The idea is that shortcuts represent things you know how to do, but would otherwise take work to avoid and aren't necessary for demonstrating the thing that is unknown. `clone()` and `unwrap()` are just Rust-specific examples of that.
croutons 2y ago
Fzf is written in go fwiw
- codethief 2y ago
  Oops, looks like I misremembered. :) Thanks!
  - codethief 2y ago
    Ah, now I know what I confused it with: fd[0]. That one is written in Rust. [0]: https://github.com/sharkdp/fd https://github.com/sharkdp/fd

IshKebab 2y ago

> ripgrep, fzf I think these are great examples of where prototyping and rapid iteration are really not needed at all, and hence Rust shines here. Writing a game is completely different.

burntsushi 2y ago
The initial version of ripgrep was absolutely a rapid prototype. I do rapid prototyping all the time. I'm not saying Rust is good for game dev, but the idea that Rust cannot be used for rapid prototyping in any context is a myth.
- OvermindDL1 2y ago
  Indeed, I personally find Rust to be very nice for rapid prototyping, incremental recompilation is usually a second or two even in my giant projects (mold helps on the linking step but that's less of a rust thing anyway), and I'm very curious how cranelift will change things in the future, it would be nice to hot swap function implementations on the fly at least.
- areeh 2y ago
  Are there any particular techniques or styles that stand out to you as useful when prototyping in Rust?
  - burntsushi 2y ago
    `clone()` and `unwrap()` and `todo!()` without fear. Just let it loose. For me, prototyping is, IMO, about finding shortcuts to demonstrate something that is unknown to you. The idea is that shortcuts represent things you know how to do, but would otherwise take work to avoid and aren't necessary for demonstrating the thing that is unknown. `clone()` and `unwrap()` are just Rust-specific examples of that.

croutons 2y ago

Fzf is written in go fwiw

codethief 2y ago
Oops, looks like I misremembered. :) Thanks!
- codethief 2y ago
  Ah, now I know what I confused it with: fd[0]. That one is written in Rust. [0]: https://github.com/sharkdp/fd https://github.com/sharkdp/fd